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A new photo library alternative built by an Australian start-up

I have been thinking a lot about this new photo library platform from an Australian start-up that is in it’s early days right now but is growing fast. ImageBrief is a new business model set up by Australians that challenges the traditional and commercial business models of the major, global image libraries that exist for stock photography. This start-up has created something interesting by putting the photographer directly in contact with the brief and client. This open and very transparent model allows photographers to browse and receive briefs and they can choose to opt in if they feel they have the shot. The price is set by the client and can be seen by all contributors, they can be negotiated by both parties should they need to. This happens openly and other photographers can see the brief and prices that the client is willing to pay.

This crowdsourced photo platform, connecting professional photographers to image buyers has some similarities to some of the photo sharing sites and apps such as Flickr and Instagram. With images being geo-tagged by cameras now there is great potential for this platform to link up photographers with buyers instantly or even for photographers to pin their location on a map to alert potential clients of their location for shots required. It is good to see an alternative to the major photo libraries that have a huge monopoly on the selling of stock photography. It is also refreshing to see some elements of community driven photo sharing platforms influence a commercial model in a more open and transparent way. They believe that more should be returned finacially to the photographer who receives 70% of the transaction plus they claim, and importantly so:

ImageBrief will never ask photographers to hand over the rights to their images